The website and launcher both say that anyone who logs in between April 27 - May 30 will get an M4-I6 Astromech Droid Mini-Pet. I actually logged in May 4 (because I thought that's when the promo ended) but I still didn't get one, and I've logged in several times since (the latest being today).

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/dzw2u

Kinetic Bulwark, by itself, isn't supposed to be a substitute for the lost armor. The totality of the changes (including the shield changes, which benefit shadows more than the other tanks) are supposed to make up for it.

Every defensive stat is wasted when you get overhealed, including the passive defense from an alternate relic. I'm not sure why this is such a popular argument. It's not as though the healing relic causes healers to overheal more than the defense one. But how good did Kitru make it seem, really? As near as I can tell, the contention is that the various options are close, but the healing relic comes out slightly ahead in both in theory and practice. A lot of the debate seems to proceed as though Kitru and others said the healing relic isn't just "BiS", but "BiS by a country mile."

It's not speculation. People were making a lot of assumptions, and the clarification was just reminding them that some of those assumptions might not be based on what actually was said.

There's no reason to think that those groups will want anything different though. Obviously different players want different things (just like now), but there's no indication that F2P players will be skewed any more toward one thing over another. F2P players are just like subscribers, in that they want an enjoyable game. They just don't want to commit to a monthly fee. Plus, the whole point of this thread is about F2P players not getting forum access. To the extent there's a significant difference in what the groups want, which I doubt ("As an F2P player, I want dull, buggy content and PvP imbalance!") All the game feedback is going to be skewed toward subscribers, because they are going to be the only ones who can post it. I have no clue whether they will succeed, but I believe they are more likely to fail if they didn't try this. Subscribers were dwindling. This game is expensive. They need people playing it for its long-term health, and the F2P model isn't the "death knell" that it once was. Heck, certain high profile games are launching as F2P. I was only debunking the idea that the addition of a F2P option was some kind of disrespectful slap in the face to subscribers, or worse, some scam to defaud people out of $60 and 7 months of fees only to pull the rug out from under them later. They announced months ago that they were exploring F2P options, so none of this should be a surprise. BW/EA thought the subscriber-only model would work for this game, and it turns out it didn't. It's not a personal slight to anyone.

That's the rule NOW. You need an active account to post, and you have to have a subscription to have an active account. This isn't a new rule. They just don't have plans to change the old one, yet.

You speak as though you think they added F2P just as a means to stick it to subscribers, rather than as a way to ensure the long-term health of the game, which benefits subscribers. They didn't do it from the get go because they thought their subscription model would work, not because they were trying to defraud you. I'm not saying the game was going broke or anything, because I don't know, but clearly they crunched the numbers and determined that a pure subscription model wasn't going to be competitive in the long run. Does it help subscribers to keep the prices where they are, and let the subscriber base shrink to where you aren't enjoying the game? Or to put off developing new content because they can't afford to invest in it? Anyway, no one asked you to be respectful to the BW business folks. They asked you to be respectful of the players. The people playing have no part in anyone's beef with BW, so no one should take it out on them.

This is true, but people say this like there aren't a crapload of melees and gunslinger/snipers in PvP. I see a significant number of marauders/sentinels, guardians/juggernauts, and snipers/gunslingers in nearly every WZ. Even other specs not listed still do some melee damage (i.e., it's not like shadows don't use double strike/CV strike, etc.)

Nothing happened to balance spec shadows in the minor update, as far as I know.

I don't want to detract from the very legitimate gripes in this thread, but the OP probably read too much into what was said. For example, "not a great partner" and "bad team player" aren't the same thing. Saying infiltration shadows don't make great partners means that they aren't going to be as effective holding a node with a healer (i.e., "partner") as a tank spec with guard might be. Infiltration shadows can be great team players if they worked as designed -- being able to hide and pick off targets quickly is great for giving your side a numbers advantage when you need one. Of course, I'm not convinced that the "hit and run" design actually pans out in practice, and certainly not compared to the real hit and run specs like ops/scoundrels. It's not the design that hampers teamplay so much as the inadequate implementation of that design.

I think people are reading too much into what he meant by saying it's not a "teamplay" spec. It's clear from the context that he wasn't trying to say that infiltration doesn't belong in a team environment so much as he was trying to say that the spec doesn't rely on boosting/protecting teammates so much as it relies on picking off weak targets quickly to create a numbers advantage. That said, I'm not convinced that infiltration is that good at what it's supposed to be good at, either. I'm way more afraid of an operative/scoundrel's ability to pick off weak targets and escape than I am of an infiltration shadow's ability to do the same.

Spec: Balance 1. Other classes perceive Balance as the highest sustained dps for shadows if played properly, but significantly lagging behind some other dps specs (commandos, gunslingers, sentinels, especially). Some mechanics are seen as group-unfriendly (AoE attacks needed to maximize damage, damage over time takes a while to ramp up -- both have crowd-control breaking implications). Utility is about average (good out of combat crowd control, not much in-combat utility), and survivability is low. 2. I perceive balance as a great mix of force powers and melee, but possibly a bit over-complicated for the dps payoff. I feel like I make a significant tradeoff in toughness, but lack the tools to benefit from hit-and-run tactics that would seem to befit an inherently vulnerable character. I don't think my self healing is particularly valuable compared to other dps specs (even those without a healing tree).

Search these forums for words like "lies" or "liar" and read the threads that refer to BioWare in that context. Most will involve information that was finalized but didn't live up to people's expectations (even if it's not what BW said). Read enough of them and you might understand why people aren't confident that people would react positively to information that actually changed since its release.

Also, what this guy said.

And generalizations are for people who can't make good arguments! All kidding aside, "addons" are just UI elements/mods that aren't included by default, so that players can customize things to suit their needs. This doesn't mean they have to be things that play the game for you (which is exaggerated anyway, but I digress). If addons only take information that the game already gives you and let you change it into a different form, then I don't see why anyone should complain about a lack of "work". Colorblind people can't "work" at seeing certain colors, so if they want to change the color of certain icons, I don't think they are lazy. I don't think a lack of work ethic motivates those people who may want a "free ability" proc icon to show up someplace they actually can see it, with some shape/color/icon combination that makes sense to them. Maybe the default UI will one day contain enough customization to satisfy everyone, but I doubt that's even possible, much less worth developer time. For example, debuff filtering is a popular request (and I agree 100%), but a default version is likely to be pretty binary -- either show every debuff from everyone, or only show my own. But there are legit reasons why people may want to see some debuffs from other people but not others. You might want to know if a boss has armor debuffs, even if they aren't your own, but you might not want to see every bleed/dot/whatever put up by the rest of the group. If the default UI doesn't give you enough customization, an addon can fill the gap. Anyway, enough of that. Consider this another vote for filtering debuffs so that I can keep track of my own, and for buff icons that I can resize and move independently of my healthbar. What I would *really* like is a "short duration buff window" where I could track procs, adrenals, etc.separately from long duration buffs like class buffs and stims. WoW has a pretty good option for this (in the default UI, no less).

Okay, but orange gear has a different cost based on levels, so the developers can't ignore that. Because orange gear doesn't come with any stats, the only objective thing (appearance is subjective) that justifies the added cost of a higher level orange item is the fact that it has a higher value augment slot on a crit. By contrast, a higher level NON-orange item has more stats on it, so it always will be "worth more" on paper (again, ignoring subjective factors like whether people think it is too ugly to wear). Oranges are stat-free, so if they didn't tier the augments on a crit, you would have crafters complaining that they spent more time, more mats, and as a result, more money, to craft an item that is statistically the exact same as a low level item that was constructed for a fraction of the cost. We already had people wondering what the point was of crafting say, a level 20 orange lightsaber versus the level 50 version. At least now one objective answer can be that if the level 50 one crits, it will have a more valuable augment slot than if the level 20 one crits. Yes, there are alternatives, but they have their downsides. They could redesign the whole crafting system, but that's a lot of work, and it might make more people unhappy than it helps. They could make all oranges use low quality mats, but that would skew players into only wanting orange items instead of the normal ones, because they would be so cheap to make. They could make all oranges use high level mats, but that closes them out to the lower level market. They could make orange items come pre-modded (so the higher ones have better stats) but that guts the market for non-orange items, and lowers the demand that mod-makers have for their services, and so on.

I think it was awkward phrasing. I believe "no shotgun or vibroknife needs aim or cunning, respectively" was closer to the meaning. As another point, I'm not sure why some posts lump defense into the set of useless stats. Obviously some classes/companions get more use out of it than others, but everyone can at least use it in the sense that every class has a defense stat.

Yes, it just means that damage won't cause the cast to finish early, and it also means that actual "interrupts" (like Mind Snap) won't stop the channel while it's active.

Unless, like I said, they just give Biochem a different perk so that statistically, it matches up to synthweaving and the others. Although, it's worth noting that the current "best" approach for min-max performance is to train the other skills, get the BOP items, and then *still* go back to Biochem, because the items from the other skills don't have a crew skill requirement. I wouldn't be surprised if that changes, but that's the current state of things. Step 1: Add "Requires <crew skill> 400" to all the various BOP Rakata items. This kills the idea that the best way to approach crew skills is to train them all up one by one, get items, and then switch. Step 2: Add Rakata implants to Biochem. Go through the remaining crew skills and make sure that they too can create Rakata items with augment slots on a crit, and that each skill has access to two slots, even if one item doubles up. Make sure all Rakata items are BOP. Now every crew skill can get the same *amount* of stats.

Biochem can have a crew skill perk that isn't related to having better stims/adrenals though, even if you assume the popular argument that no one cares about saving credits is correct.

What this guy said. What seems to have confused people is that previously there were NON-reusables (i.e., consumables) that had a Biochem requirement even though they would be consumed on use. THOSE were the ones that had the Biochem requirement removed. That's it.

It also bears repeating that the OP's main point is that he *can't* get what he wants from the commendation vendors, so maybe the market isn't as gutted as people think it is. A lot of other factors go into people's buying decisions besides whether something close to it is available elsewhere. The amount of content that grants xp -- class quests, side quests, pvp, flashpoints, space battles, etc. means that if people do more than one thing they often find themselves outleveling the story content. For example, on one character I got sent to Balmorra after I was past the max "recommended" level for it, because I had done "too much" content on the previous planets. So, in order to catch up, I skipped everything on Balmorra that wasn't part of the class quest or "main" planet quest that I picked up (since the game wouldn't let me abandon it). That meant I didn't get a lot of commendations, and a whole lot of my gear was seriously outdated (I ran the FPs, but didn't get lucky on drops there). I couldn't update everything from the vendors without spending even more time grinding commendations on the planet I was outleveling. I too would have loved to just be able to buy some mods to update my gear more closely to my level. One thing that crafters overlook when deciding whether mid-level items are worth the effort is that people *love* to get upgrades, and they get antsy when they go a long enough period without getting one. While there absolutely people who won't upgrade because they know they'll just "outlevel it soon anyway," there also are people who would love to upgrade their stuff every level if they could. Moreover, mods aren't the only things that vendors sell. If you only have 20 commendations, it doesn't always make sense to buy 10 mods with them. It might make sense to buy the mods, and spend the commendations on a bigger upgrade for another slot, or in filling out gaps on your companion. That is, if someone bothered to sell the mods. But often they aren't, so I "settle" for what the commendation vendors have, and even that ends up being several levels behind me based on the timing of my quest progression.

I'm not sure how vitriolic I was about it, but I was just saying that the answers people are giving don't actually make sense in the context of the question, at least if you take them at face value. I can understand (and even agree with) the point that people don't sell low and mid level items because there is a perception that you can't make money on those things. But I don't see why people just repeat that as if it's a fact, particularly as a response to someone that's offering evidence that suggests that the perception isn't entirely accurate. I also agree with the point that a lot of people raced their crafting to max level and only wanted to focus on that market. Both of those answers DO explain to the OP why there aren't item modifications on the market at his level. The OP's question, however, is evidence of some demand for mid level mods that aren't duplicated by commendation vendors. It seems silly then, for some posters to tell him that there isn't any demand for those items because he's coming here to tell you that there is. This is especially true when the people answering haven't indicated that they actually tried to sell to that market -- they instead post that they assumed there isn't a market for that and haven't bothered with it. I haven't seen any posts from people who say, "I made mid-level item modifications and I haven't been able to sell them, so I quit doing it." That would be evidence of a lack of demand, or an inability to make a profit. In fact, the only post from anyone who apparently has put these items up for sale said that he did make money on them.

Why not? It doesn't take up much of your time, especially when you consider ... So people don't buy the high level stuff, and you won't make the low level stuff that people are asking for because they have less-than ideal alternatives?